


surf's up, cheekbones

by larry_hystereks



Series: agents of the beach [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-07 16:50:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4270695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larry_hystereks/pseuds/larry_hystereks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>skye teaches grant to surf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	surf's up, cheekbones

"Morning, Ward!"

Bobbi walks up to him waving, a bright smile on her face. 

He closes the door of his car and turns to her. 

"Hey, Bob." 

They walk together to the beach house where they clock in for the day. 

Grant tries not to roll his eyes too much at Bobbi's shameless flirting with their supervisor, Lance. 

As they leave the building, Grant's eyes land on the the bright blue banner swaying between two poles that previous held a volleyball net. 

He reads the text allowed. 

"Fifth Annual Surfing Competition, this Saturday." He turns to Bobbi. "We have a surfing competition here?" 

She laughs. 

"Yes, dumbass. Your girlfriend hasn't told you about it?" 

"She's not my girlfriend." 

Bobbi rolls her eyes as they come to their lifeguard tower. 

The two of them take it and push it upwards so it's standing upright. 

"Are you going to enter?" She asks him once they're done setting up the tower. 

"Enter what?" 

"The surfing competition, obviously. Lifeguards get free admission." 

"I would if I could surf." 

Bobbi stares at him. 

"You can't surf?" 

Grant shrugs. 

"Never learned." 

Bobbi begins to rub her first layer of sunscreen on her and hands the bottle to Grant. 

"Skye's going to flip out." 

He rubs some on his shoulders and frowns. 

"Why?" 

"Because in the three ears I've known Skye Johnson I've only seen her date one kind of person." Bobbi says. "And that's a person who can surf."

She shrugs her shoulders and starts jogging down the beach to warm her muscles up for the day.

Grant sighs and pretends like the potential thought of Skye not liking him anymore doesn't bother him. 

 

\-----

 

Skye comes up to them halfway through their day on duty and Bobbi tells her. 

She tells Skye that Grant doesn't know how to surf and he expects her face to fall or for her to laugh at him.

He was at least 90% sure there was going to be laughter involved. 

He was wrong.

The last thing he ever expected was for her to turn to him excitedly and say, "Oh my god, I can so teach you!"

"What." He says flatly in response. 

Skye nods happily. "Yes, tomorrow, six am, be here."

"Beaches are unguarded at six am." 

He doesn't know why he says it, but surfing? With Skye?

She's going to kill him. 

With flirty smiles and wet skin. 

"Well it's a good thing you're a lifeguard then, huh?" 

Grant slumps his shoulders and Skye reaches forward and squeezes his calf. 

"See you then, Ward."

She smiles brightly and then is running back towards to the water with her board. 

Grant looks at Bobbi. 

"I hate you." 

Bobbi laughs. 

"Just don't have sex on the beach alright, old people like to walk the boardwalk in the mornings."

He buries his head in his hands and groans. 

 

\-----

 

"You know I kinda thought maybe you wouldn't show up." 

"And miss getting humiliated for my lack of coordination? Never." 

Skye smiles. 

"I won't laugh," she says. "too much. I promise." 

He shakes his head and smiles. 

"Come on, I have a board for you in my car." 

He follows her over to her jeep. 

"It's the long board. It's easier for beginners." 

He nods and takes it off the roof of her car. He sets it down and grabs Skye's board too, handing it to her. 

"What a gentleman." She comments. 

He snorts and shakes his head. 

"Alright, let's get this over with."

She shoves him on the shoulder. 

"It's fun. You're going to have fun, I promise." 

He stares at her for a second before nodding. 

"Alright, fine." 

She smiles again and tugs at his arm and leads him down to the beach. 

"Okay, lay the board on the sand." 

"Why?"

"Because I'm your teacher and I said so." 

He sighs and lays it on the sand. 

"I'm going to show you how to stand up properly. If you can't do it right out here there's no way in hell you'll ever be able to do it on water." 

He nods his head as Skye starts demonstrating the proper way to go from paddling to standing up on the board. 

He watches her a few times, biting the inside of his mouth as her ass bounces every time she stands up. 

"Now you try." 

Grant lays down on the board and tries to mimic Skye's movements. He does it once and already knows he fucked up. 

"Okay, okay, that was close, but you want to be swifter. More fluid. Try not to be so tense." 

He tries again and looks at Skye. 

She shrugs. 

"It's not the worst I've seen." 

He groans. 

"I'm never going to be able to do this." 

"Well, not with that attitude."

"Skye-"

"Grant-"

She places her hands on her hips in a challenge, looking at him pointedly.

"I did not wake up at six o'clock in the morning to deal with a whiny quitter."

"As if you don't wake up this early every day."

This time it's him that looks at her pointedly.

"You're an ass." Skye says with a roll of her eyes. "But you're an ass who needs to stand up and ride a wave at least once in your life. It's like a right of passage for beach kids."

"How do you know I'm a beach kid?"

"How do you know I wake up every morning at six am?" She counters with a smirk.

He huffs.

"Okay, fine," he says. "Show me how to do it again."

She smiles so bright Grant swears she could give the sun a run for it's money.

 

\-----

 

He falls off his board more than a dozen times.

He lost count after fifteen. 

Now his body is aching from being beaten by waves and having to paddle out deep into the water every time he wipes out.

He's exhausted.

"How do you do this everyday?" He asks her as he sits on his board next to her, both their feet dangling in the water.

She smiles at him.

"I do it everyday."

He shakes his head. "I didn't realize how... strenuous it all is."

She laughs.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

He nods. "You should, it is. This is ridiculous."

She laughs again, louder this time.

"You'll get it, cheekbones." Skye says. "Watch me and then just do what I do. Think awesome Skye thoughts."

She gives him a smile before she's paddling towards the shore, towards the waves, leaving him there alone.

A thought of sharks crosses his mind, but then Skye's catching a wave and he's struck in awe by it.

Maybe he could never appreciate it from the far distance at his lifeguard tower, but seeing it up close like this the closest thing he's ever gotten to a religious awakening.

She stands up with a grace and ease that could only ever come from the years of practice she's had.

When she catches the wave she rides it with a look of determination and pure joy.

She looks like she's found and built a home right here on this wave.

The ocean is her kingdom and this wave is the castle she's building and shaping at her will.

She's breathtaking.

The wave starts to come to an end and Skye jumps off her board, landing with a splash in the water.

She pops back up, smiling, jesus, she's always smiling.

She climbs back on her board and sits up, calling out to Ward.

"Come on, your turn!"

He groans as he paddles towards Skye.

He really doesn't want to fall again.

But he also doesn't want to disappoint her.  

He paddles harder towards the wave and as he feels himself start to be lifted by it, he stands. 

And doesn't fall. 

It's a goddamn miracle. 

He manages to stay on the board for a total of thirty three seconds before he loses his balance and he falls into the ocean.

Thirty three blissful seconds where he felt the power of the ocean underneath of him.

When he gets back to the surface, Skye's paddling towards him. 

"You did it!" 

He snorts, coughing when he gets some water in his nose. 

"Barely." He chokes out. 

He hears her chuckling. 

"Cheekbones, you did it," she says. "Now let's get out of this water before we turn into human prunes." 

 

\-----

 

Skye sticks her board in the sand and sits down, sighing. 

Grant takes a seat next to her, putting his hands in his lap.

"I'm proud of you."

"What?" Grant says. 

"I'm proud of you!" Skye says again, pushing his shoulder a little bit. "You had a goal, to stand and ride a wave, and you followed through and completed it. That's awesome." 

He purses his lips, trying to fight back the grin. 

"Thanks," he says. "I'll never be as good as you, though." 

"Well now that's impossible." 

Grant laughs. 

"Where'd you learn to surf anyway?" 

Skye smiles small at him. 

"Summer's at the foster home were always really crowded, so sometimes the church would come and take a couple of the kids to the beach." Skye says. "One of the older kids there, Kara, knew how to surf. She taught me." 

"You were in a foster home?" Grant asks quietly. 

Skye nods, her smile a bit sadder. 

"Yeah, all my life," she says. She shrugs. "A couple parents, tried me out, I guess. But it never really stuck. I've got a loud mouth, in case you haven't noticed." 

She laughs at the end, trying to cover up the obvious sadness in her voice. 

"Well too bad for them," he says. "Cause I've only known you for a few weeks and I really like you. Even if you are making me go broke every time you want an iced tea and you pretend to drown all the fucking time." 

Skye laughs so hard she falls back against the sand, her hands clutching her chest. 

"Oh, Grant," she says between chuckles. "You really are the most adorable lifeguard in existence." 

"Thank you?" 

"You're welcome," she leans up on her elbows. "You're amazing. And when I win the surfing competition for the fifth year in a row, I'll dedicate my entire speech to you, scouts honor." 

He rolls his eyes and stands, reaching out his hand to help her up.

"Whatever you say, Skye." 

 

\-----

 

She does win the competition, obviously. 

And she stands up on the small stage for ten minutes waxing poetics about an amazing lifeguard who saved her life not too long ago and how she wouldn't be here today without him. 

There's some people in the audience who are crying. 

They think it's beautiful. 

Grant Ward, local hero to surf competition winner.

Ward just stands with his mouth hanging open, Bobbi hiding her laughter in her hands next to him. 

Skye winks at him. 

He smiles. 

Christ, he has it bad. 

**Author's Note:**

> if you have an beach verse requests, or any other skyeward requests, slap that shit in the comments.


End file.
